If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

New split with k-wing?

A few days ago I took 3 deep frames with eggs/capped brood/stores, plus 2 drawn frames, and a entire med that was half capped brood and half capped honey to start a split. Left the queen in the original hive.
After 2 days I noticed that the that the split was tossing out the drones and, this is what I'm worried about, a lot of bees falling out of the hive and walking away.
I might see 4 or 5 flop out in a 10 min. period, or I might see 1 an hour. 90% have they typical k-wing we've all seen pictures of...trying to fly, walking up grass.
The parent hive has plenty of drone traffic and no sign of "walkers".
Not worried about the drone eviction from the split but what's going on with the k-wing?
Why would the split have K-wing but not the parent hive?
Could it be tracheal mites?
Can I / should I treat queenless split with mite-a-thol? (did not expect to harvest honey from this hive this year)
Should I treat the parent hive?
Looking for suggestions.........
Thanks for the help!

Thought about sending samples to Beltsville Bee lab but they request 100 bees.......not sure if I can wait that long to collect that many.

Re: New split with k-wing?

moat likely the problem, but could be Varroa Mites, they are feeding on the drone brood, You have them in both hives, as the brood was capped in the parent hive, They hatched with deformed Wing similar to k wing. You need to assess the mite load, and treat for mites, since most treatment will take care of both. you have expressed that you would treat with Mite-a-thol it is safe to assume you are not treatment free. so I would recommend hop-gard it your state allows it. if not Oxalic Acid vapor.

Re: New split with k-wing?

I've noticed the same thing before - k wing in weak or queenless hives. I don't know what the exact correlation is but it tends to go away as the overall hive health improves. Give it more bees/emerging brood, get it queenright - it's likely that the k wing will fade away before long.

Nonetheless, if you want the hive to be healthy mite loads can't be excessive.

Re: New split with k-wing?

Thanks guys,
I thought k-wing was indication of t-mites and DWV was an indication of V-mites? I have not seen any DWV.
I'll treat for v-mites today......
Do you think I should treat with mite-a-thol also?

The ejected drones are NOT effected by k-wing, they fly off, it's all worker bees that are crawling.

Re: New split with k-wing?

You are correct, but as with many health problems symptoms often become more apparent under stress - as when you split the hive.

BTW, many of the treatments which are effective on varroa supposedly also work for Tracheal mites. The ones that would get into the trachea I would imagine - so probably formic acid, OA vapor, maybe apiguard. Just guessing.